


Taking Flight

by SpuffyCarrie



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 19:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16455782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpuffyCarrie/pseuds/SpuffyCarrie
Summary: Part 4 of Exquisite Consequences (Part Lobster)





	Taking Flight

A bulky demony fist back-handed her across the side of the face and sent her flying towards the headstone she’d thrown a vampire at earlier, and her head hit the side of it with a sickening crunch. She felt the air rush out of her lungs as her essence was torn from Faith’s body. Spike’s eyes widened, her name whispered on his lips as he dove towards her. Then he shouted it. “BUFFY!” He shook her shoulders, but it was of no use. Buffy was no longer in that body. She watched from above as Spike brushed a lock of hair off Faith’s face with surprising gentleness. “I’M NOT IN THERE!” she shouted soundlessly. Then she cursed when she realised the sucking motion was continuing as her spirit, her soul, her consciousness … whatever, was being pulled towards an unknown nothingness. She hoped it was Giles, that he was summoning her back to her unconscious body resting on his couch, but she had no way of knowing. Her last glance at the ground below before she flew too high to see was of Faith waking up, and a look of shocked horror crossing Spike’s face when he realised she was gone.

Buffy found herself floating, some distance away from where she’d started. She could see Spike below, and it felt rather like the scene in Harry Potter where his aunt had blown up and floated away into the evening sky. She had no control of herself or the direction she was headed, finding herself at the mercy of the night breeze.

Cemetery stone and lawns became trees, and then roads and houses, and even they began to look smaller as she rose into the air, streetlights like small stars flickering below. Giles was meant to working on pulling her spirit back into her own body, but it didn’t seem he was being very helpful in that capacity or she wouldn’t be wispy Buffy, light as air and on a path to staying that way.

Then there was Spike, grieving over her in Faith’s body and then Faith waking —   would they be fighting now? Would Faith stand a better chance against him if he was hurt by Buffy’s loss? Or would his anger possess him so much that Faith would be toast? A part of her hoped the latter were true and that bitch got payback; sister Slayer or not, she deserved it.

She felt a tugging sensation as the wind picked up, a flash of lightning coursing across the sky as large droplets of rain passed through her. Was this what it was like to be a ghost? At first, she’d felt more like an astronaut careening through space when their link to their spaceship had broken and she’d stifled a scream. It was not of the good. Now she felt the breeze snaking around her and towing her down towards the ground again.

 

***

 

“Mommy, mommy, I want a balloon!” The little boy yelled and stamped his feet as his mother pulled him along by the hand, hoping she’d be able to at least get her son home and into bed without him wanting everything they came across.

“Mommaaaay!” He yelled, pointing to the street vendor, going into a full-on tantrum as she tried to pull him in the other direction.

“Ricky, were going home right now. It’s raining and we’re about to get soaked, you can have a balloon next time.”

The four-year-old, stomped his feet, intending to make the walk home as difficult as possible for his mother, pulling away from her grasp at his hand and running back towards the vendor, while his mother ran after him.

He stopped, took a loud gasp and fell back onto his butt.

 

***

 

The closer Buffy came towards the ground, the faster she felt herself moving. She panicked. What if her essence ended up crashing into a tree trunk? Would she live out her life there? Or would she just snuff out, to be Buffy no more? Why the hell did she agree to this?

She picked up speed, feeling nothing but air racing past her, blurring her sight. She felt sick with the idea that this was the end, she would be gone and everyone she ever loved would never know exactly what happened to her.

She felt a jolt as she made contact with something with a thwack, the feeling akin to someone throwing a bowl of pudding against a wall and then all was calm for a moment.

Then she heard it: a tiny heartbeat thrumming loudly in her ears, and pain as she fell back. 

 

***

 

“Oh, Ricky, you silly sausage, now you’ve gone and hurt yourself,” Agnes soothed as she ran to her son. He was laying like a starfish right on the ground, staring up at the sky with a startled look as rain plopped onto his face. “Come on, sweetie, let’s get you home.”

Ricky was a wilful child and not often prone to keeping his mouth shut if he was hurt, but this time he seemed to have taken the fall bravely.

She placed him on his feet, checking him for injuries but seeing he was just fine. “Come on then, my brave little soldier, let’s get home and mommy will make you some hot chocolate.”

This was Ricky’s favourite treat — but he still hadn’t said anything at all, perhaps he had a concussion? She couldn’t see anything, but she’d call the doctor out when they got home, just to be safe. 

 

***

 

Hot chocolate sounded good, especially as Buffy thought she might never feel anything in her mouth ever again.

She found herself holding the hand of the very tall lady and following her, she seemed nice, and she missed her own mom … no one would mind if she just allowed this stranger to make her a nice cup of cocoa and tuck her into bed? It had been a hard day and the thought of sleep sounded blissful.

But, no. She would need to go back to this lady’s home and wait until she was asleep before she called Giles to update him on what had happened.

 

***

 

“Why the bloody hell is she not back yet? This is your fault, Ripper, you said you’d have her back into her body with no problem, and now she could be halfway to timbuk-bloody-tu! Or worse than that, gone forever, floating away like a ghostie!”

“I can assure you, Spike, we’ve done everything necessary to get her back to her own body. We just don’t know why it’s not working. Willow and I are working on it.” Giles replied sternly as she polished his glasses to the nth degree.

Spike trained his eyes on Willow, who looked somewhat sheepish.

Xander piped up, “Anyway, what are you even doing here, Spike? It’s not like you’re needed for this part. Where’s Faith?”

“The chit socked me one right on the snout an’ ran off once she realised she was herself again, must be something about Slayers, they love to break a bloke’s nose!”

“And you’re here, why?” Xander goaded.

“Look, you, I’ll bloody drain you…” Spike glowered, heading into Xander’s personal space.

“Enough, children!” Giles yelled, banging a dusty book onto his desk and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We have better things to be doing than watching you two act like a pair of playground bullies! Where was Buffy’s essence when you last saw her? Perhaps Willow can use an incantation to find her location?”

“I can do that, Mr. Giles, I’ll just need a few things back at home.” She picked up her bag and headed for the door.

“Be quick, Willow, we don’t know how much time we have.”

 

***

 

Buffy felt her eyes closing. It was warm, her belly was full, and she was tucked up snugly in her bed with her favourite teddy bear. Except none of it was her life. The kind lady who’d kissed her goodnight wasn’t her mommy, the bear wasn’t Mr. Gordo and the jammies with small superheroes dotted all over them certainly weren’t hers.

Still, if she closed her eyes for a moment, she might just get a little rest while her ‘not’ mommy finished watching TV downstairs and went to bed. Then she could get up and use the phone. Enveloped in her tiny, exhausted little body, she sucked her thumb and drifted off into the land of nod. 

 

***

 

The clock in the hall struck midnight and Buffy woke, feeling disoriented. Yesterday had been the worst ever so far. Not only had she found herself launched out of Faith’s body, taking a trip into the unknown, her essence was somehow now inside the body of a four year old boy called Ricky, who sucked his thumb at night, had a penchant for balloons and hot chocolate and a mommy who loved him deeply, so much so that she’d been smothered in kisses while in his body and had to endure a raspberry blown on her belly. Now, she found herself in the precarious position of needing to call Giles from their home phone to find out why the spell hadn’t placed her directly back in her own body, while using little legs which were hardly longer than her own forearm. It was almost like descending a mountain as she climbed over the stair gate and shuffled down the stairs on her bottom, spotting the home phone in the hallway above her on an occasional table. She heard a chirp in the darkness and saw a large, fluffy grey cat sauntering towards her. It rubbed its head on her waist and meowed. “Shush.” She said, placing a small finger over her mouth as she stood on tiptoes and reached up for the telephone. She could barely touch it, so pulled on the cord until it fell, catching it deftly. She dialled Giles’ number and hoped to god he’d be home and not out searching for her.


End file.
